The "family treasure". This blend fully expresses the Amedei philosphy. Combined here are cacaos from 9 plantations which, over the years, have been discovered, restored, and rendered productive again by Alessio Tessieri: an exceptional raw material. From this, Cecilia created a powerful and balanced dark chocolate, in which the aromas of the plantations persist in the unmistakeable flavour of this chocolate.

Amedei – 9—Chocolate Review
Rating:
89.8% out of
100
based on
2 reviews.

Amedei – 9

Is 9 different beans in a blend overkill? Amedei doesn’t seem to think so. And after tasting this bar, you may be inclined to agree – a superbly balanced, full-flavoured chocolate with plenty of fine characteristics. Perhaps one doesn’t note 9 separate beans in here, but this is clearly by far Amedei’s best blended chocolate.

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Reviews

Hans-Peter Rot: 16-Oct-2006

SCORES

Score/10

Weight

Aroma:

10%

Look/snap:

5%

Taste:

35%

Melt:

5%

Length:

15%

Opinion:

30%

Total/100:

100%

INFO

Best before:

Batch num:

Source:

Supplied by:

Appearance simply looks gorgeous and meets the high anticipation surrounding this chocolate. Only minor swirling and a single air bubble mar the surface, while the sheen is lustrous, vibrantly emitting a beautiful shade of dark brown with magenta-purple highlights. Aroma is powerful and burly, emphasizing dried fruits, which in other words, means typical Amedei. Chuao must be in here somewhere as molasses strikes a familiar chord, but the rest of the fragrance rings with licorice, cherries, and a cunning counter of the floral variety, perhaps jasmine.

Flavor follows a similar standpoint, with molasses front and center but eventually it dies down as blueberries and cream quickly take command. Distinctly bitter and acrid like molasses and also faintly reflective in flavor, the profile continues thusly without much variation, except for a somewhat bold chocolaty sensation that certainly requires no further elaboration, and indeed, none is added. Texture is a slight issue that has not yet been fully resolved with the omission of lecithin. Although devoid of Amedei’s usual graininess, the chocolate still melts irregularly and slightly dry. It’s a couple notches below Chuao but still an improvement over days of yore.

Amedei is on their best behavior here, first in the visuals and aromatics, then with flavor. 9 is actually somewhat of a mild chocolate, perhaps dominated in “”intensity”” by gentler cacaos but certainly characterized by Chuao in flavor since the blueberries and molasses are highly characteristic both of this imperious origin and of 9. The result is a somewhat soothing blend highlighting Chuao’s domineering flavors matched with the remaining eight cacao’s gentler nature. In other words, 9 can be assertive without being assertive, achieved entirely through association rather than actual strength.

Alex Rast: 2-Nov-2005

SCORES

Score/10

Weight

Aroma:

10%

Look/snap:

5%

Taste:

35%

Melt:

5%

Length:

15%

Opinion:

30%

Total/100:

100%

INFO

Best before:

Batch num:

Source:

Supplied by:

The bar, out of its gorgeous, ideal packaging, already looks exciting. It’s a dark red, very well-finished, with little unevenness and ony a very few small pinhole bubbles. Perhaps it isn’t ultra-shiny, but the surface finish is sufficiently good to inspire confidence. The aroma, though, is where you are truly inspired. It’s rich, powerful, awesome: cherry and molasses, with clove hints, a pungent and deep presence. Brown sugar is also strongly in evident and the overall effect is of smelling a very rich spice cake fresh from the oven.

The flavour continues without disappointing. There’s a strong, lovely blueberries and cream initial wave, then it proceeds to the same pure chocolatiness of Cluizel’s 72%. As it moves towards the finish the creamy elements reemerge, along with earthy and coffee flavours, and there’s a hint of grassiness. Certainly complex and yet with that excellent chocolatey middle an exercise in balance and control as much as in expression and character.

Like most of Amedei’s chocolates, it’s a hair short of perfection on the texture, slightly dusty and medium-creamy. From the label one can also see that Amedei has joined the bandwagon and chosen to eschew soy lecithin, a welcome change which we can probably expect to see in new Chuao and Porcelana bars as well. Speaking of which, from the flavour profile it’s clear that there is a lot of Chuao in the flavour, and this isn’t a bad thing at all. The blueberry and molasses notes are both the giveaway tastes and the vehicles of richness and character. Perhaps the Chuao rather assertively dominates the flavour, but one would expect this of a cacao whose taste is so bold and strong. The result is perhaps a “”Snow white and the seven dwarfs”” effect – one major player, multiple smaller contributors. To make 9 we might add the Handsome Prince, but whoever’s in the blend, the result is a ratings “”9″”.